ANZAC VALOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24594, 30 April 1941, Page 7

ANZAC VALOUR

CAMPAIGN IN GREECE THE REARGUARD ACTION LINES NEVER BROKEN : • - . (United Press Association) (Bv Electric Telegraph — Copyright) (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, Apl. 29. Agency messages and reports from war correspondents 6n the spot all agree that the stand made by the Anzacs ; against the Germans in Greece was one of the most diffi- . cult and dangerous military operations ever carried out. “Many of our troops have now left Geece after stubbornly eontesting the enemy’s advance, even to the last few inches of Ortek soil.” This announcement ,was made in Sydney by the .Acting Prime Minister. Mr A, W. Fadden, after a meeting of the Federal War Cabinet to-day. “Unfortunately,” he added, “we cannot hope to avoid casualties. and we must be prepared for them. The full story will be told as soon as possible. Until then I know this county will wait in courage and resolution.” v; 'Mr Fadden described the evacuation as “proceeding,” and said the task entrusted to our forces had been carried out with great fidelity. , ; V { Describing ' the campaign, Mr Chester Wilmot, the Australian ;--Broadcasting--Commission's' commissioner, with the Imperial Forces in Greece, said that a small Australian force held up the whole German Army for more than two weeks, and the line of the Imperial Forces was never broken, even by the most difficult and dangerous attacks. They were constantly harassed by German dive-bombers, which were also able to dive and bomb the ports through which reinforcements might have come. Transport lines were bombed 40 or 50 times a day, and the crews were frequently forced to take shelter in adjoining fields, where they were again bombed and machine-gunned; In spite of all this, the Anzacs fought an heroic rearguard action for two and a-half ghastly weeks, and in one sector nearly every man were a bandage, while all wore a . . “ smile. At the rear of one position there was an ammunition dump: of, 8000 25-pound shells, and as soon as the Germans - came within range the Australian gunners shelled them for eight hours with 21 guns, at the rate of a shot a minute, v' ;• The plain became a graveyard for numbers of tanks and hundreds of men, '■ ■ -